FreeSatFromSky vs Freeview - A decision to be made!

Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

I currently have a Sky digi dish (installed by previous owner of the house)
and a sky digi box (ebay!) but no viewing card, hence no ITV / ch4 / 5...
I've had a viewing card off ebay in the past, but it was not active, and i'm
hesitant to go down that route again. So, i reckon the choice really comes
down to one of two things:

1. Free Sat From Sky - buy a 20 quid card from them

2. Ditch the sky box and get a freeview box.

Now the freesat thing seems like a good deal, but it seems that for my 20
quid all i'm really getting extra is itv1 / ch4 / ch5 - but no ITV2. (i've
read elsewhere that ITV 2/3 might get pulled from sky anyway??)

With freeview i get ITV 2 and 3 - am i correct? In the end cost isnt really
a consideration - if i get freeview i'll ebay the sky box and break even.
Oh, and yes - i can get freeview in my area - i've tried a friends box on
our aerial.

Any pointers would be great. At the end of the day, so long as i get
bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5 i'll be happy.

cheers

Commander Q wrote:
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

snip

Any pointers would be great. At the end of the day, so long as i get
bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5 i'll be happy.

*****

In that case (i.e. you're not swayed by the thought of umpty-squillion
channels of junk), then go for DTT (Freeview). Otherwise you're a hostage to
fortune and Murdoch jr's whims.

André Coutanche

Commander Q wrote:
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

I currently have a Sky digi dish (installed by previous owner of the
house) and a sky digi box (ebay!) but no viewing card, hence no ITV /
ch4 / 5... I've had a viewing card off ebay in the past, but it was
not active, and i'm hesitant to go down that route again. So, i
reckon the choice really comes down to one of two things:

1. Free Sat From Sky - buy a 20 quid card from them

2. Ditch the sky box and get a freeview box.

Now the freesat thing seems like a good deal, but it seems that for
my 20 quid all i'm really getting extra is itv1 / ch4 / ch5 - but no
ITV2. (i've read elsewhere that ITV 2/3 might get pulled from sky
anyway??)


ITV2 is utterly ****e.


With freeview i get ITV 2 and 3 - am i correct?


Yes, but having had a look at ITV3's schedule so far, it seems that you
can say the same for ITV3 as you can for ITV2.


In the end cost isnt
really a consideration - if i get freeview i'll ebay the sky box and
break even. Oh, and yes - i can get freeview in my area - i've tried
a friends box on our aerial.

Any pointers would be great. At the end of the day, so long as i get
bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5 i'll be happy.


Personally, I'd far prefer to have Freesat from Sky than Freeview
because you get 80 digital radio stations rather than 24 digital radio
stations, and ITV2/3 are crap, IMO.


--
Steve - www.digitalradiotech.co.uk - Digital Radio News & Info

Find the cheapest MP3 player, Freeview and DAB prices:
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/mp3_players.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/fr..._receivers.htm
http://www.digitalradiotech.co.uk/da...tal_radios.htm

"DAB sounds worse than FM" wrote:
Commander Q wrote:
Now the freesat thing seems like a good deal, but it seems that for
my 20 quid all i'm really getting extra is itv1 / ch4 / ch5 - but no
ITV2. (i've read elsewhere that ITV 2/3 might get pulled from sky
anyway??)

Hopefully all of ITV, C4 and five will go FTA rather than be tied to Sky.
Might that be what you've read about?

With freeview i get ITV 2 and 3 - am i correct?
Yes, but having had a look at ITV3's schedule so far, it seems that you
can say the same for ITV3 as you can for ITV2.

Not having a decent ITV1 signal, I actually quite like ITV3.

Personally, I'd far prefer to have Freesat from Sky than Freeview
because you get 80 digital radio stations rather than 24 digital radio
stations, and ITV2/3 are crap, IMO.

Aye, I miss some of the radio stations when I don't have FTA dsat.

"Commander Q" wrote:

Now the freesat thing seems like a good deal, but it seems that for my 20
quid all i'm really getting extra is itv1 / ch4 / ch5 - but no ITV2. (i've
read elsewhere that ITV 2/3 might get pulled from sky anyway??)

ITV2/3 might get shifted to a satellite not owned by Sky, but it'll
still be possible to pick them up with the Sky box.

With freeview i get ITV 2 and 3 - am i correct? In the end cost isnt really
a consideration - if i get freeview i'll ebay the sky box and break even.
Oh, and yes - i can get freeview in my area - i've tried a friends box on
our aerial.

Yes, you can get ITV1/2/3 on Freeview. I'd say go for Freeview so that
you don't give another £20 of your hard-earned cash to that billionaire
*******, but that's just my opinion.

--
Dave Farrance

Personally, I'd far prefer to have Freesat from Sky than Freeview
because you get 80 digital radio stations rather than 24 digital radio
stations, and ITV2/3 are crap, IMO.


I`d say not getting ITV 2/3 is a bonus. We have also removed ITV1 from
TIVO`s list of stations, so it never insults us by recording any of their
dire offerings.

"Commander Q" wrote in message
...
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

snip


Why not have both ?

In message
"André Coutanche" wrote:

Commander Q wrote:
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

snip

Any pointers would be great. At the end of the day, so long as i get
bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5 i'll be happy.

*****

In that case (i.e. you're not swayed by the thought of umpty-squillion
channels of junk), then go for DTT (Freeview). Otherwise you're a hostage to
fortune and Murdoch jr's whims.

André Coutanche



Agreed and you'll get more than bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5

--
Richard Watkinson

Treasurer Sheffield Folk Festival

http://www.sheffieldfolkfestival.org/

A kitten is for life...

"Mike Jones" wrote in message
...

"Commander Q" wrote in message
...
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

snip


Why not have both ?

As it's be more expensive?! Aren't you a smarty..nooo

"Commander Q" wrote in message
...
Now then...

I need to decide between these two services, and need some advice...

I currently have a Sky digi dish (installed by previous owner of the
house) and a sky digi box (ebay!) but no viewing card, hence no ITV / ch4
/ 5... I've had a viewing card off ebay in the past, but it was not
active, and i'm hesitant to go down that route again. So, i reckon the
choice really comes down to one of two things:

1. Free Sat From Sky - buy a 20 quid card from them

2. Ditch the sky box and get a freeview box.

Now the freesat thing seems like a good deal, but it seems that for my 20
quid all i'm really getting extra is itv1 / ch4 / ch5 - but no ITV2. (i've
read elsewhere that ITV 2/3 might get pulled from sky anyway??)

No ITV2 currently - but ITV3 is FTA on Digital satellite - so you should be
getting that already on channel 119 using your existing cardless Sky
receiver?

As you say, ITV2 is currently pay-TV only, not FTV or FTA - though many
think ITV may follow the BBC and not renew their conditional access deal
with Sky, and instead just go for regional mapping and EPG only.

C4 and Five are both closer to Sky (Film Four/E4 in the case of C4), whilst
I think Five only distribute a single version of their channel for domestic
DSat reception so are happy for Sky to deal with uplink etc.


With freeview i get ITV 2 and 3 - am i correct? In the end cost isnt
really a consideration - if i get freeview i'll ebay the sky box and break
even. Oh, and yes - i can get freeview in my area - i've tried a friends
box on our aerial.


Freeview gives you a few FTA music channels that are pay TV on Sky

FTV Satellite will give you significantly better BBCi interactive TV (as you
get access to about 8 rather than just 2 and a bit video screens) Wimbledon
and the Olympics BBCi services are better on DSat than DTT.

FTV Satellite will also allow you to watch all BBC and, probably, ITV (via a
bit of fiddling - and not all ITV subregions are carried at the moment)
regions - probably not a major bonus unless you live on the overlap of a
couple of regions and your Freeview "local" services aren't the ones you
want to watch.

ITV1 picture quality is better on DTT than DSat IMHO.

Some BBC channels seem marginally better on DSat than Freeview.

FTV cards are only guaranteed for 2 year.

Any pointers would be great. At the end of the day, so long as i get
bbc1/2/3/4, itv 1/2/3, ch4 / ch5 i'll be happy.


Steve